Bless you!
by Olego
Summary: Scotty is sick and contagious.


Achoo! Scotty sneezes again and he feels his head banging from the inside. He's been really sick for two days, and the cold just doesn't go away. The two past days, Saturday and Sunday, he's been at home in bed, served with ice cream and books by Kevin.

Now it was Monday and Kevin was at work. He had dropped off Scotty at Nora's in the morning, not wanting Scotty to be all alone the whole day. Nora had of course made a big fuss about it. She had cooked for him, fetched blankets, aspirins and various things to keep him occupied. And it's only lunch time, Scotty notices.

Nora's doing the dishes after the meal. It had been great pasta with fresh vegetables, "Full of antioxidants!" Nora said as she served Scotty the food on the couch in front of the TV. He hadn't been able to finish it, but he felt better after some food.

Nora returned from the kitchen, carrying two big photo albums.

"I thought maybe you want to look in these. They're from when Kevin was young, like ten or so." She offers the albums and Scotty takes them. He hasn't seen any childhood pictures of Kevin.

"You look so pale honey, do you want me to get you another blanket?"

"No, I'm alright, thank you." Scotty tried to smile appreciative. Nora smiled in return and left.

"Just call if you need anything at all." She says on her way out.

Scotty opens the first album and sees two young boys, maybe seven and nine play with a gigantic beach ball, on the beach. They both have dark curly hair and matching shorts. Scotty immediately recognizes Kevin as the younger one. He stares at the smile on the little boys face for minutes. It's so carefree and joyful. He thinks that he sometimes sees that smile on Kevin's face now too.

He flips through the album, seeing pictures of Kitty with a Ronald Reagan t-shirt, Sarah in a pink sequin dress and Justin in a tiny bunny suit, carrot in one hand. Scotty suddenly hear the front door open and close and shortly Kevin appears in the doorway. He's pale.

"I'm sick." He states, puts down his briefcase and walks over to Scotty. He strokes his husband's hair, figuring kissing is not what either of them feel like. Nora comes into the room.

"Kevin, what are you doing here?" She asks with concern.

"They sent me home from work." Kevin's voice is thin and low. Nora walks up to him and feels his forehead.

"Oh honey, sit down here. I'll get you some blankets and some water."

Kevin quietly obeys. He sits down next to Scotty and sees what Scotty's doing. His head tries to process the pictures and what he thinks of Scotty sitting there, looking at embarrassing pictures of him.

"If there are any pictures of me naked, it's Tommy." He says with a logic that only makes sense in his own fevered head.

Nora returns with things to tuck in Kevin. She hands him a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants.

"You can borrow these from Justin."

Kevin leaves for the bathroom to change into his brother's clothes.

--

They spent the afternoon on the couch, sneezing and phlegmming all over the place. They slept from time to time, and looked at photos and watched TV for a bit, neither very articulate.

Nora came into them once in a while to make sure they drank a lot of water and to ask how they were.

When she entered the room for the fourth time that hour Kevin was starting to wish he had enough energy to tell her off.

She put a bowl of fruit on the table in front of them.

"Here boys, have a banana. They're very good for you."

Kevin started chewing on his banana, but it made him gag, and he disappeared into the bathroom.

"Oh honey…" Nora call after him. To Scotty she says. "Good thing you haven't threw up, your body need the food."

"Well, it also prevents me of getting rid of the bad stuff." Scotty says with a slightly broken voice.

"Why are we discussing Scotty's gag reflexes?" Justin says as he enters the room. "Don't have any?" Justin's eyes tells Scotty what he's thinking about. Scotty's silence also answers the question. "Kevin's a lucky dude." Justin whispers, soft enough so that Nora doesn't hear.

"Are you sick, man?" Justin asks as he sits down on a chair.

Scotty nods and Kevin enters the room.

"You too?" Kevin doesn't reply, his face and skin color speaks for itself.

"Good thing you look like crap, cuz otherwise I'd be mad you rifled through my closet."

Kevin shoots his brother a killing look.

Suddenly Scotty starts coughing again. When it trails off he sees the other three watching him.

"Banana?" Nora offers.

He takes the fruit and peels it. Justin watches him very closely as he starts to eat it. He notices and raises an eyebrow. He continues to eat the banana, feeling a bit uneasy with his brother-in-law's gaze.

The opening of the front door breaks the moment and Tommy walks in.

"Whoa!" He says, seeing Scotty and Kevin under a pile of blankets in the sofa, Justin spontaneously draped in a chair and Nora collecting tissues from the floor around the sofa. "What happened here?"

Kevin blows his nose and throws the tissue on the floor, rather to make a statement towards his older brother, than to clear his sinuses.

"Tommy, you shouldn't be here. You're going to get Lizzie sick, you should go home." Kevin is childishly annoyed that Nora momentarily aims her attention towards her grand child instead of to him. He feels Scotty stroke his arm and feels better. He loves the bond they have, as if they sometimes know what the other one is thinking and feeling, and how they so easily can communicate with each other.

"I'm just here to pick up the baby clothes you found in the attic." Nora is reminded by Tommy and leaves to fetch the box. When she leaves Justin speaks.

"So Scotty doesn't have any gag reflexes?"

Kevin chokes on his words and starts to cough. Scotty looks mildly entertained and his awkward face confirms Justin's question. Tommy looks stunned and Justin looks satisfied. Just then Nora comes back with the box and Tommy excuses himself with wishes of a quick recovery.

Nora leaves to make dinner and Justin is preparing to follow his mother. Before he exits the room he turns around and points at the photo albums on the table.

"That was for the bunny picture I know is in there." He than leaves the two patients alone.

Scotty laughs at Kevin's embarrassment.

"Relax, sweetie, you mom didn't even notice."

"But still…" He sneezes loudly and his face wrinkles like he's biting a lemon.

"Kevin," Scotty says, all serious. His husband looks up at him. "You're _so_ sexy."


End file.
